Pistachio Shell Flower Wreath
4 Materials
20 Hours
Medium
I love to reuse things. Upcycling! I am often on the lookout for items that would otherwise be trash, to turn into treasures. There's the usual standby cans, and bottles, but this is a first for me using pistachio shells. I've seen pistachio flowers around for awhile now, I figured a wreath would be the perfect place to apply that amazing technique!
The first step in this very time consuming project is to eat lots of pistachios. Or know someone who eats lots of them and is willing to save the shells for you. This wreath required the shells from around 3lbs of pistachios! I washed the shells before use, and dried thoroughly.
I used a 14 inch straw wreath for my base, and gallons of hot glue. A low temp hot glue gun works the best for this project.
Each shell is glued on individually. One shell at a time, forming each flower and covering the wreath.
Glue, and glue, and glue some more! This wreath took about 20 hours to complete! Crazy huh?! But, at the end of all that work, I still think it was totally worth it!
There was a lengthy debate on how to finish the wreath when I was done gluing the shells on. I had the hardest time deciding whether or not to leave it natural, or paint/stain it. In the end, and with lots and lots of opinions gathered from my friends, family and readers, I decided that turquoise was the way to go. Since some of my favorite tealish turquoise colors come in Unicorn SPiT form, I decided that would do! I didn't want a totally uniform color so I used two shades of the SPiT and I love how it came out.
I used Zia Teal, and Navajo Jewel Unicorn SPiT!
A spray sealer would have been the easiest route, but I only had a high gloss spray sealer on hand, and I didn't want a high gloss finish. So I just used satin polyurethane and painted it on, letting the excess drip right off. Worked fine!
I finished it off with a ribbon to hang it, and a copper monogram letter!
It is my new favorite wreath, by far! (Which is a good thing, after all those hours of work!)
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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2 of 166 comments
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I loved your wreath!!! I did something very similar to a lamp of mine. Did 'flowers' with Gorilla Glue and added a set of teal tassels and a teal lampshade that I spray painted and trimmed the shade with gold paint on the top and the bottom rims. I left the shells natural color. The only downside ... extra weight gained from eating all of the pistachios!
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How beautiful! I love it! Thank you for sharing! Time to start eating more pistachios! 😉
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